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| 20 week scan |
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| 12 week scan |
Our ultrasound tech Diane was amazing. She literally showed us everything from the ventricles in Tiny's brain to the entire spine vertebra by vertebra to ten tiny fingers and ten toes. We know there's no cleft lip, no sign of Down's, the kidneys are working well and the baby is swallowing amniotic fluid like he should. She is totally average in terms of size and growth rate, which we're thrilled about. To my eye dork friends, Diane even showed me the lenses and orbital bones. My goodness.
Going against both of our Type A personalities, we decided to NOT find out if Tiny is a boy or girl. The tech put it well when she said "it’s like a Christmas present... part of you wants to know but it'll be so much more fun on the day if you don't!" Besides, both of us like the thought of having more gender neutral stuff in case we decide to go through this circus again someday.
We’ve been taking weekly belly pictures and
all I can say is WOW, I underestimated how big I'd get! Chris
has been so incredibly supportive and kind… I am so thankful for him. I’ll occasionally catch him staring at my
belly with his jaw open (how did you get this BIG?!) but I do the same so can’t
really blame him.
My first trimester food aversions are pretty much gone,
or at least to the point that I can now be in the same room as an avocado. More recently I have gone through some
(thankfully short-lived) cravings. The
first was instant ramen noodles. I was
shocked to see their price had nearly tripled (40 cents?!) from the time I was in school. So much for your body knowing what you need,
huh? Surely that baby didn’t need 212%
of my daily sodium and zero vitamins in one bowl of (40 cent?!) noodles. The second craving was for kettle cooked salt
& cracked pepper potato chips. I
rarely eat chips, and never that kind, so am not even sure how I realized I wanted
needed them. The lowest point, at least
so far, was three weeks ago when I changed into yoga clothes for a 5 PM class,
grabbed my car keys, and then thought “I wonder how hard it is to make doughnut
holes.” Twenty minutes later I glanced
at the kitchen clock just as it turned to 5:00; I was rolling just-fried
doughnuts in a bowl of powdered sugar. The worst part about this story (other than skipping
yoga to make doughnuts) is that Chris had a flag football game and didn’t make
it home at his usual time so I ate the
whole batch. Luckily for our health,
I’m back to craving normal, nutritious foods.
Fruit, veggies, full fat dairy, meats, grains, and peanut butter are all
back into the rotation, and that last package of ramen is sitting forgotten in
a dusty corner of the pantry.
Over all, it’s really nice to finally like myself and
not the low-energy nauseous blob of brain farts I was for a couple months
there. It’s amazing that something the
size of a key lime sapped so much liveliness and productivity from me! There were times I sat on the couch staring
at the ceiling because I felt too tired to watch TV. That’s pitiful.
During the first trimester we had to choose between two
very different care options. Since we’re
military living in the UK we had the choice to have prenatal care and the birth
on the British National Health Service (NHS) hospital two miles away from our
house or to go to the American hospital on RAF Lakenheath, an hour’s drive
away. The choice was really tough and we
still question our decision. We know and trust the military health care system
but are interested in as natural a birth as we can handle. In addition to being so near, the NHS system
is midwife-based and has birthing options that range from an OB-led hospital
clinic to home water birth by midwife.
Is that even an option in the States?
The Lakenheath system is much more structured, of course. An IV and heart
monitors are placed at the start of labor and the rooms are much more
comfortable, but the C-section rates are much higher and I’d be lying on a
table for hours. Everyone has put their
two cents in about the matter, but since Chris and I were both born abroad by
midwife we figure we’d keep the trend going!
All my appointments and care so far have been by midwife
and if the pregnancy continues in a normal fashion I may never see a doc. My midwives Judy and Debbie are great and
reassuring. Their general stance is that
pregnancy and birth are natural phenomena and that mammas need to relax. They’ve basically said I can do anything I
did before I ‘fell’ pregnant, just modified (run, but slow; bike, but at the gym
instead of on these crazy roads, etc) The only things they have forbidden are
downhill skiing and more than a half glass of wine a few times a week. I can handle that!
Tiny is already pretty well traveled, and I can honestly
say that people (men, women, teenage waiters) in Greece love pregnancy and
babies the most. We stepped out of a
taxi at our guesthouse in the Greek island of Kos and within ten seconds the
matriarch of the family came straight at me with her hands extended, speaking a
million-word-a-minute Greek. Before I knew
what had happened her hands were on my belly and she paused from her Greek
tirade to look into my eyes and shout BABY!
Mind you, I was only 15 weeks and could’ve just been carrying a few
extra pounds! What a brave woman.
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| I think my mom is most excited for this baby. Her nickname for me has changed from Claireabelle to Claireabellly. |
Friends here have been incredibly generous with
maternity clothes donations. Chris’ mom
sent me a belly band that let me wear my own jeans and resist maternity clothes
for quite a while. Then I finally got
around to ‘just trying on’ some maternity jeans my friend Angela had brought
over. The second that stretchy band went over my
belly I realized I was never going to wear normal jeans again (or at least not for
the remainder of the pregnancy). Men and
women should all own a pair of these things at least for Thanksgiving afternoon
and the entire two weeks surrounding Christmas.
Just this week another friend Sarah brought bags full of cute shirts,
jeans, and sweaters so I’m pretty well set on wardrobe for the foreseeable
future.
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| Moses basket - one of the many things Angela is letting me borrow for the next few months. |
One
more exciting piece of news is that as of this week I'm feeling Tiny’s
movement! It's marginally less strange
than I thought it would be, although still seriously odd knowing there's an
alien knocking about in there. Chris was
also able to feel a couple kicks – I’ve never seen his eyes get so wide.
We haven’t come up with any names and are looking for
suggestions. We tried to get Uncle
Calvin to help but so far he’s come up with “Bull” and “Peesa”, neither of
which works too well with our last name! Let us know if you have any
suggestions or any advice J
This already has been a crazy adventure. 
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